XTRNX HKSAR v. YEUNG HAU YEE

HCMA487/99

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

MAGISTRACY APPEAL NO. 487 OF 1999

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J U D G M E N T

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1. The Appellant has raised a number of points to support his submission that the only witness who gave evidence in the trial, Miss Tse Yuk Sim, an Assistant Hawker Control Officer, was an untruthful and unreliable witness and therefore the Magistrate should not have accepted her evidence to convict the Appellant of the offence of Hawking Without a Licence. I do not intend to mention or go into any of these matters about the evidence. The Magistrate heard her evidence and was able to observe her demeanour when she gave evidence. He considered her to be a truthful witness and accepted her evidence. He then went on to convict the Appellant of the charge.

2. It is only in very rare circumstances that an appellate court will reverse the findings of fact of a trial magistrate. The appellate court does not have the opportunity to see and hear the witness and unless the evidence is such that the appellate court is left with a lurking doubt about the guilt of the appellant, the trial court's findings of fact ought not be disturbed. I can find nothing in the evidence which causes me to have a doubt about the guilt of the Appellant. The appeal is therefore dismissed.